Do You Make Dressing or Stuffing for Thanksgiving?

What do you call that delicious Thanksgiving side made of crusty bread, broth, and vegetables? Turns out, the answer has less to do with whether or not you stuff it inside a turkey and more to do with where you're from.

According to Google Correlate, which compares the popularity of search terms by state, "dressing recipe" is most searched for in Alabama, followed by Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee. But in the northern and western states, stuffing reigns supreme. "Stuffing recipe" is most searched for in Montana, followed closely by Pennsylvania, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

Google Correlate

Google Correlate

It's interesting to note that search terms like "cornbread dressing" were almost entirely confined to the Southern states, with hardly any search traffic north of Kentucky, while the term "cranberry stuffing" was three times more popular in New England than anywhere else.

How did the difference in terminology come about? We're not entirely sure, but Southerners' famous sense of decorum may have played a role: Some cooks prefer dressing because stuffing "sounds unpleasant."

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